Monthly Archives: January 2009

With real estate market facing considerable slowdown, a new trend of building affordable houses is emerging in the National Capital Region of Delhi. After Ghaziabad, Indirapuram , Noida, Greater Noida and Faridabad, a number of projects in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh for an apartment, have been launched in Gurgaon.

So far, Gurgaon has been known for its luxury apartments. In the last two years, the township witnessed the development of apartments in the price range of Rs 3,500 to Rs 10,000 per sq ft. On top of this, the size of most of the apartments used to be upwards of 1,800 sq ft. Thus, the cheapest apartment available in the area was priced around Rs 60 lakh. This affected demand in the residential real estate sector here. At the same time, as most builders were into the construction of premium apartments, these properties are in oversupply and witnessing correction in prices.

With capital values ranging approximately in the Rs 5,000-8 ,000/sq ft in residential apartments such as Beverly Park I & II, Heritage City, Garden Estate, etc, the cheapest apartment in this area is available for around Rs 1 crore. Golf Course Road also gained prominence with developers planning large projects catering to the luxury and premium segment customers.

But as the premium segment of apartments are in oversupply, this has witnessed some correction in prices in the last two months. According to a Cushman & Wakefield report, approximately 8-10 % correction has been recorded in these areas in the recent past, although downside is limited due to high occupancy levels and a broad end user base.

To revive demand and real estate activities in the area, realtors have now changed their strategy, focusing their projects on affordable housing segment in Gurgaon, as well as Manesar .

Various projects have been announced on the Rajiv Chowk-Manesar stretch along NH-8 , in the affordable house segment owing to lower land costs – some projects cater to the high-end segment as well. As areas like MG Road and Golf Course Road started to saturate with realty development , growth shifted along NH-8 with a slew of projects launched in these new sectors. With the master plan also emphasizing on these new sectors and with infrastructural initiatives in the form of Metro, ISBT, KMP expressway, Northern and Southern Periphery Road, one can be assured of strong connectivity to other parts of Gurgaon and Delhi, says a C&W report.

The capital values of projects along this stretch are in the range of Rs 2,000-Rs 3,500 per sq ft. With apartment sizes varying between 1,200 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft, their prices range from Rs 24 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. C&W says in the report that prices are not only attractive for end users, but also good for long-term investors . As Gurgaon grows and projects on this stretch come up, one can expect capital values to appreciate in the long term.

A number of builders like Pal Group, Falcon Realty, ILD Group, Bestech Group and Raheja Developers have launched a number of projects in the affordable range in the Gurgaon-Manesar region. A number of affordable housing projects are coming up in Sector 37 and 71 of Gurgaon.

he physical infrastructure is expected to be strengthened with the Northern & Southern Peripheral Road, which will provide connectivity within Gurgaon, and to Delhi. The Metro, ISBT and the recently announced subsidized public transportation within NCR is expected to ease travel within the city and to the other cities also.
In addition to the physical infrastructure, the social infrastructure is also undergoing large-scale development with several healthcare facilities coming up in Gurgaon.